No guidance at home and too much rap music. Sound familiar? 24/7 party time is evident in the test scores.

Education is not a priority in most US homes from what I can tell. And in homes where it is important the parents don't know how to apply it. My own mom ended up doing most of my homework growing up, thinking she was just helping me answer problem after problem. Not to mention that our society is based on getting by and not excelling.

Being an educator, I'll give you some more information. First of all, we test EVERYBODY. No Child Left Behind has everybody, regardless of IQ or ability taking those types of tests. Even before NCLB we still tested more than most other nations. Many countries put kids into areas other than "college track" early on. So those kids aren't tested. Isn't hard to beat us on test scores when you only test the top half of your kids. Also, are they taking the same test? We comparing apples to apples? doubt it. And finally, on average we have 180-185 day school years. It's been a while since I've seen this data, but some of your European countries have 225+ day school years. Again, apples to apples?

There are lots of reasons... Lack of parental involvement Incompetent teachers Overpaid Administrators Teachers unions No Child Left Behind Act Spoiled children Society's apathetic attitude to what does not affect them directly So on and so forth. It would seem that many have forgotten the old adage, "it takes a village..."

2nd Answer............. Drug addiction Guns at school Gang members Pressure from piers Someone at home or Answerbag, doing their homework Cellphones Busing and many more reasons. I was fortunate. i had both parents at home and i walked to school. no gangs, no weapons and we left our door and windows unlocked at night.

As I've seen this play out in my own home: my middle class son spent most of his time on-line and playing with all of the toys that we were affluent enough to bestow him with. He paid very little attention to school or social life aside from on-line friend. So, my from-the-hip reaction is this. When immigrants hope for their children's futures, they may deprive their children of extra's and goodies (or they may not be able to afford them). Because of the DRIVE to succeed, these children become our children's chief competition in the work force. They thrive on work and being the best so that they can get some of the consumer comforts that we are used to and/ or move to a country where they will be successful. In order to make it to the top as an immigrant, they know they must be the BEST, not mediocre. In order to just live here and go to Walmart and buy the next Nintendo game system, you can work as a clerk at a mediocre job and save us your pennies so that you have the best game system and gadgets in the world in a crappy apartment, keeping a low standard of living. I hope more of our kids see this coming! The world work market is really going to sneak up on all the mediocre American kids and they'll be stuck! There is an extraordinary book about the globalization of all of America's non-professional jobs (and some of the professional ones). Everybody should really read this, and especially if they are in high school, college, or going out into the work force soon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_is_Flat

Our system of education is set up wrong and it is largely due to government interference. Examination of the countries who seem to be doing it right is what our educational system needs to look at...I also blame the parents big time...parents don't sit down with kids from little on and read to them to start their interest in reading...they do not make the children set time each day to attend to their studies....parents blame "the system" or "the teachers" for their neglect of good parenting....